For all the bad moments encountered at work, the good ones more than make up for them.  Even though Jenny, my coworker, pisses me off sometimes when she makes unreasonable demands of me or blows up at everyone when things get frantic, when she's calm, she's like the cool mom I never had.  =)  She feeds me and jokes around with me and doesn't yell at me nearly as much as the other underlings.  I like to think that it's because I'm so competent.  =P  hahahaha!!

It's through this job that I met the sweetest guy ever.  He comes in everyday and I'm almost always the one to make his half and half decaf cappuccino served with a glass of water, a spoon and cookies.  =)  He's always in the greatest mood, smiling and greeting everyone and actually appreciates what you do for him unlike many of the stupid customers I usually encounter at work.  On my lunch break today, I was waiting in line to pay for my omelette at Bakery Gardens and to my surprise there he was waiting in line right in front of me!  At first he didn't notice me but as it was my turn to pay, he turned around and saw me.  We exchanged greetings and then before I could even count out my money, he had already shoved a bill into the cashier's hand to pay for MY food.  NoOoooOOoo....  After a bit of a squabble, I had no choice but to let him win.  =(  His explanation was that he wanted to repay me for my kindness to him but that's really quite unnecessary because being nice to customers is all part of the job.  That's it...next time he comes, he's getting a complimentary cappuccino on me.  =)  In case any of you are getting the wrong idea, he's known to all at work as "professor" and my guess is he's retired.  No need to get jealous honey...  =)           

 

Tomorrow...interview...at IKEA!!!  I got called back!!  YAY!!!  =) 

Wish me luck everyone!

*sigh*  some people are just so unbelievable!!  Maybe it's a rich people thing, that money has gotten so much into their head that they've become crazy and made them start resenting freedom. 

This stupid "see lai" (rich old lady) today came to the shop to get a drink, an iced cappuccino or something like that...I forget.  So I give her the usual list of choices:  flavour, size, whipped cream on top, etc.  You'd think that she'd appreciate you letting her know of her options so that her drink will be exactly the way she likes it but nooo...  She got annoyed saying that I was giving her way too many options and was confusing her.  What an idiot.  Fine if you hate your freedom of choice so much then maybe you should go back to China where you belong.  The one down side of working at such a posh mall as Bayview Village...all those damn snobby people who think you exist only to serve them. 

I remember another lady once approached me while I was helping out with closing.  It was already past the time that we stop serving drinks, the coffee was poured out and everything so we just told her the store was closed.  She then complained we should be open for at least another hour after all the other stores in the mall are closed so that shoppers can relax with a cup of coffee after their "oh-so-tiring" trip to the mall.  How selfish is that?  Hey lady, I'm tired from WORKING all day, unlike you and really just want to go home.  If you want coffee so much, go home and make it yourself. 
  

My interview at IKEA went great!!  Or at least it did in my opinion...

As for what the interview was itself, it was pretty weird to say the least...not at all what comes to mind when you think "interview".  First, I was the second last person to arrive for the group interview...I got there only 5 minutes early...phew!!  On the drive there (my first time driving since I got my G last friday!), some dude was daydreaming in the left turn lane while the light was flashing green.  I got so annoyed because I was going to be late if he didn't get moving that I actually honked the poor guy...  That was my first time using the horn.  =P  Actually I had to bash the wheel a few times to hit the horn hard enough so that it would make a sound.  OK, well back to the point!  The interview was with only 4 other people, all female applying for the spot as cashier.  Everyone there was really cool and friendly and I don't think there was a single person there who didn't deserve the job.  So for the next two hours, we filled out a bunch of paperwork (personal info, questionnaire, etc.) and then proceeded with the interview... of each other.  Strange indeed..  Well that turned into presentations on what we learned about each other then the fun part:  a scavenger hunt inside IKEA!  Given 15 minutes to find the answer to any 5 questions on the sheet, my team did it in 7!  YAY TEAM!!  Did you know that the difference between the blue and the yellow ikea bags is that yellow is to borrow and blue is to buy??  Now you do!  So even if I don't end up getting the job, I least I had a fun time at the interview. 

IKEA is the greatest!  =)     

BOOO!!!
I'm so sad...  =(
 
I got my hair straightened finally last friday...or maybe the term should be "straightened" since it was straight for maybe only a total of 2 hours.  The winner of my business ended up being not candidate #1, 2 or 3 but 4!!  So who's this mysterious candidate #4 who messed my hair up so badly?  It would be the place that a friend of my mom's suggested.  I asked for a two inch cut which ended up being more like a 4 inch one WITHOUT my approval!  >(  And by the time she was done the whole straightening process, it looked a bit too poufy but she assured me that it was right.  She even suckered me into buying an $11 bottle of hair spray!!  But the saddest thing by far was that even before I stepped foot into my house, my hair was already beginning to curl at the ends.  =(  There goes my hard-earned $120...  Well I gave them a call today, just now actually, and she told me to go in so she can take a look.  I really hope it qualifies for a free do-over or else I'll be even more sad.  =(  
 
Lesson learned:   
Always trust my gut instincts.  I should never have let my mom convince me to go to THAT place!

Dilemma...

As maybe some of you may know...I have naturally wavy hair so ever since I've started earning my own pocket money, I've wanted to get it straightened. So starting last year I did but now, a year later, my hair is starting to get its unwanted curl back. This friday, I'm planning on getting it straightened again but where oh where should I go??

Candidate #1: Goa Hair Salon
This is the same place I went to last year when I got it straightened for the first time. Here they're offering me the best price of $130 (a little more than last year which was only $100 but I think it's because my hair is longer this time). However, the problem is one of my friends got her hair straightened here too last year but complains now that after the treatment, her hair became really damaged and broke alot. I didn't have that problem although I did notice it starting to lose its ultra straightness after only about 4 months. This isn't supposed to happen!! They told me it would last at least a year...

Candidate #2: Hanna at Cinderella Salon
I found out about this place in an online forum about Japanese hair straightening. In one particular discussion about TR - Thermal Reconditioning (aka Japanese hair straightening), an expert claims that Hanna is one of the best TR technicians in Toronto. She has 7 years of experience with TR and uses high quality products including Shiseido. The only down side is she charges more than the other two candidates. Her price is $200 (using only Korean product, NOT Shiseido).

Candidate #3: Sunny Hair Deco
Here is the candidate that is kind of in the middle of the road. Their price is pretty good...$130 using Korean product and $150 using Japanese product and just like with Cinderella, I've never been there before. My only beef with this place is that all the hair stylists that I saw there today were "old" people, ladies in their late forties. This makes me wonder whether they're any good at satisfying the tastes of the younger generation. =\ I'm also afraid that they might only do a mediocre job like at Goa and make me have to go in a second time and I honestly don't have the time for that. It's hard enough to get 3 consecutives days off work as it is. They do make her seem quite accomplished in their website though: www.sunnyhairdeco.com


Yup so there are the choices. PLEASE, PLEASE for the few of you that do continue to read my blog, give me your opinion as to what I should do. Do so by leaving a comment for this post. Thank you sooo much! =)

Day Two


Good morning Moo Moo! 

Second day, I woke up feeling dead. The previous night's sleep was terrible with the air con whirring in the background, the crappy fold up bed that dipped in the middle, the constant tugging of the blanket on both sides of me and the cold of the night. Seems that everyone else in the family had a good night's sleep except me. =( So understandably, I was not all too keen about hopping in and out of the car every 10 minutes to look at sights.

Today's first stop was Letchworth State Park, which according to one of my parent's tour guide friends, is much more worth seeing than Watkins Glen. Oh course I wouldn't believe...Watkins Glen was unbelievably beautiful. Well I wasn't totally right on that... This park was nice too but I guess just a different kind of nice.


The giant concrete dam separating the part of the river that is dried up and the part that still has water 

Here we saw a giant canyon (it's even called the "grand canyon of the east") that used to have a river running down the middle. It has since mysteriously dried up and we never did find out why because WE NEVER MADE IT TO THE VISITOR'S CENTER!!! So now there's just a huge dam there with only water on one side of it. It was a very hot day so after stopping the car for about the tenth time we decided to call it quits and head off to grab some disgusting American style Mickey D's. Granted that the one good thing about it was their one-dollar menu featuring Jr. Big Macs...how interesting. =)


Me on the ledge with the canyon in the background 


Crazy water fountain 


Girls washing their hair in the river 

On the way home, we stopped in at Buffalo to dine on authentic Buffalo chicken wings at a place where I remember eating every time we went to the falls when my brother and I were kids. The place is called Frank and Teressa's Anchor Bar, which is where the legend of Buffalo chicken wings began. One night in 1964, the son brought a few of his friends over to the family bar for some drinks. As it neared midnight, these friends were starting to get hungry so the son brings over another round of drink while his mother, Teressa goes into the kitchen to whip something up for the boys. She looks into the fridge and finds a bunch of plump juicy chicken wings and decides to mix it up with some hot sauce to serve. The son and his friends were at first weary about this unusual dish but when they tasted it, were they ever surprised! It was dee-licious! And so this is how Buffalo chicken wings came to be. =)

After that, it was time to head back to home sweet home and another satisfying meal of congee and greasy dishes. It's good to be home. =) For more pictures, check out my Webshots, the link is at the top right.

Surprisingly enough, Family Trip 2004 wasn't at all the horrible, boring trip that I thought for sure that it would be. If fact, you might even say that I had a good time. =) To recap on the events of the past weekend, I'm going to split the blog about my trip to the Finger Lakes into the two days that we spent there.


Day One

Saturday morning felt just like any other weekday morning (on which there is work) in that we all had to wake up insanely early to hit the road. By 7:45, we were heading down our street to set off to the Finger Lakes, our destination in New York State. The drive took nearly four hours during which we crossed the border at Buffalo where Uncle Paul tried to stop every single military personel he came across to ask for directions even after he'd already found out from the first. =P When we finally got to the lakes, our first stop was at a winery by one of the lakes for some wine tasting. They had a very interesting and not to mention tempting selection of fruity wines but just as I was about to ask for a sample, they asked me for my ID and I was promptly rejected for being under 21. =( Darn US system!!


Me, Dan and Abe sitting outside the winery...no booze for us. =( 

Next stop was the town of Watkins Glen, home to muscle car drag races and Watkins Glen State Park. The scenary inside the park was more magnificent than any I've ever seen before (next closest being the Rockies). So beautiful that my attempts to describe the sights just would not do them justice so here I give you pictures. =)


Stone bridge spanning the gorge with the river rushing underneath. 


Another view we came across along the Gorge Trail. 


Daniel looking down into the river 


Scene looking like something out of Tomb Raider or LOTR. Abe washed his hair in that waterfall. =P 


A father getting ready to toss a boulder into the river, resulting in a giant splash that soaked him and his kids and made the baby cry. =P 

After our tiring hike, the kids beat the parents back to the bottom of the trail where we dined on 97 cent hot dogs and pepsi. Oh and did I mention the ice cream?! "Holy Cow" was a blend of vanilla ice cream with chocolate and peanut butter swirls woven into it and real mini reeses peanut butter cups! OH so good!! =)

The day ended with a trip to the outlets where I scored an awesome deal of 3 t-shirts for $10 at Aeropostale and a belt for $3.49. Life is beautiful. =)

*YAWN*
What a tiring weekend that just passed by... The church retreat this year at Waterloo's Renison College was pretty fun but what prevented it from being LOTS of fun was the terrible facilities we were submitted to. The hallways were smelly, the food sucked, the people serving the food were so stingy (they would only give me two slices of bacon!!), bananas were always low in supply, the beds were rock hard and the blankets were sooo thin that everyone especially those in rooms with AC were freezing during the night. But aside from all that, good times were had with our fellow church-goers. =) Oh and btw...Waterloo sucks =P Here are some pictures:


Me and my brother here having just finished dueling....he beat me!! *sniff sniff* 


Phong (and me behind the camera) taking a stroll 


Yay, I feel so loved =) 


The pushing game with top pair: Justin and Winson; bottom pair: Gabe and Kat